ISTANBUL (A.A) - "Cemile", a novel of renowned Turkish
author Orhan Kemal, was published in Spain.
Orhan Kemal Culture Center released a statement and said
"Cemile" was for the first time published in Turkey in 1952.
Spanish publishing house Takusan Ediciones published the
novel "Cemile" in Spanish with the name of "Lejos de
Estambul" within the scope of a project carried out by
Turkish Culture & Tourism Ministry to support publishing of
works of art of the Turkish culture, art and literature
abroad.
Karen Eskenazi translated the novel into Spanish.
The novel narrates the story of Cemile, working in a
textile mill, and clerk of the factory who wants to marry
her. The novel is one of the autobiographical fictions of
Kemal.
In the novel Kemal narrated tough living conditions of
workers in a realistic way.
The statement said number of Kemal's novels published
since 2000 abroad reached 23.
Orhan Kemal, whose real name is Mehmet Rasit Ogutcu, was
born on September 15, 1914, in Adana and died on June 2,
1970 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
During his literary career, he wrote under various
pseudonyms, including Orhan Rasit, Resat Kemal, Rasit Kemali,
Hayrullah Guclu, Rustu Ceyhun, Ulker Uysal and Yildiz Okur,
which is his daughter's name.
In 1970, The Writers' Union of Bulgaria and Romania
invited Kemal to Sofia, Bulgaria and this is where he died
from a hemorrhage of the brain. Just like the large families
that he portrayed in his stories and his novels. Since 1972, Kemal's family has been holding a
novel competition in order to introduce his humanist
approach to new generations, and to honor new novelists of
Turkish literature.
(AY-MS)